


A Crucible for Two

by Scarfinator



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-17 00:25:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9296129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarfinator/pseuds/Scarfinator
Summary: After a journey through Elaine Ruins, many colorful disagreements with Rose, and Alisha's final answer, the group takes a rest outside the ruins. However, Alisha and Rose soon discover a brand new challenge for themselves - a crucible challenge made for just the two of them.





	

Traversing the Elaine Ruins is no small feat.

It is an exhausting building composed of several massive floors. Many puzzles and secrets further complicate the process of traversing the ruins; at a few points I felt it was impossible to move on until Rose pointed out a dent in the wall, or a staircase that we had forgotten to check. And even though the source of the malevolence corrupting the area had moved on, there were still plenty of monsters inhabiting the area.

To make matters more perplexing, the ruins are a dead end. In other words, a one way trip; as soon as you reached the end - where Sorey was - you had to go back the same way you came. This meant twice the effort must be put into the exploration should you wish to leave.

We get lost several times on the way back, just as we had on the way in. Had there not been a smattering of Turtlez merchants throughout the ruins, we would have exhausted our supply of Holy Bottles by now. No one is in the mood for fighting any more, so we are eternally grateful to these merchants.

Someone in our group breaks the silence by letting out an over dramatic groan. I don’t need to turn around to guess who it is - she’s been complaining the whole way back.

“Hey, Alisha.” Rose follows up her complaints by addressing me. “How about we just bust outta here and climb down? We don’t need to explore anything in here, we just have to get outside.”

“You have to be joking,” I reply. “There are no windows for you to leap out, for one. For another, how do you expect to climb down? We have no climbing equipment.“

“You can do anything with a little bit of elbow grease! Here, let me show you what I mean.”

Rose turns towards a wall, a fiery aura surrounding her. It looks as though she’s charging up an arte.

My word, it seems she IS charging up an arte.

“STOP!!!” I yell at once. “The ruins could collapse if you do that!”

The aura around Rose disappears. She swivels back to me, smiles, and begins to…

Laugh. Laugh ever so heartily, all at my expense.

“Did you really think I was going to do anything? You’re a riot!” Rose claps my shoulder, and I shove her away.

“These daggers are expensive, y’know? I mean, we found plenty of replacements in these ruins, but still, I couldn’t have done it. If I really wanted to, I would have had to armatize with Edna and punch my way outta here.”

“And no thanks,” Edna says. “If you want the ruins to cave in on you, be my guest. But I’ve done enough work here for a lifetime.”

Rose laughs again, and I can feel my face go red. Of course she was joking. Of course. But she really did seem like she was going to cut through the wall, and I really did think she wanted to try climbing down, and I, I…

I’m just going to let this one go.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Edna speaks once more.

“Ah, light. Looks like all your moaning finally paid off.”

She’s right. I can see a glimmer of light coming from straight up ahead. The end is within sight.

Rose cheers, and everybody laughs. I myself can feel a smile creep to my face, even though I had resolved to keep complaints to myself.

——

After leaving the ruins, we immediately set up camp. Although the glimmer of light we had seen was a sunrise, a sight that usually marked the start of a new day, we were still in dire need of a break.

With an elated sigh, Rose slumps against a wall. “Finally, out of that friggin dungeon.”

I just smile at her in response, and look ahead at my surroundings. We had chosen quite a view to camp at. It had required a climb up, but it was well worth being able to watch a sunrise from up high. It felt like forever since I had really gotten a chance to take in a view, and this felt like the perfect opportunity to do so.

After a few moments, Rose interrupted the silence.

“Watching the sunrise, eh? Not every day someone like you gets to do that.“

“Indeed,” I say. “I feel as though I really needed this.”

“That you do! Can’t be a busybody all the time. You need to stop and smell the flowers every now and then.”

I glare at Rose. There’s some truth to her words, but I can tell that she’s mocking me so I’m not about to admit that.

Rose simply smiles at me in response, and then.

All color leaves her face.

I stiffen up. She was having so much fun picking at me; what would suddenly happen? Is there a hellion around? Did something dire happen?

“What’s wro-“ I start to ask what’s wrong, but as soon as I turn around to see what she’s been staring so intently at, I understand.

“Another one of those things…” I hear her say as I come face to face with what appears to be a ruin of some sort.

I’m not sure what it is. I’ve never seen anything of the sort. However, I’m certain it wasn’t there before. And even I can tell it’s teeming with malevolence.

I turn to ask Rose what it is.

“Oh yeah, I guess you’ve probably never seen one of these before.” She answers me before I get the chance to speak. “These here are what we call crucibles. They’re basically hives of malevolence, and they’re super hard to purify. But when you do, you get good stuff from them. I had to do one once, it wasn’t fun.”

Hives of malevolence… It’s a vague description, but I can feel what she means. Spear in hand, I stand up to examine it, curious as to what might be inside.

“Wait, Alisha, what do you think you’re-“

I peer down the steps. By this point, I can feel the malevolence stronger than ever. It’s overwhelming, and I want to get away. But I’m also curious as to just what may be inside there.

There doesn’t seem to be anything, despite the pressure I feel.

Reason returns to me, and I realize this is a matter we must all investigate together. So, I turn back to Rose in order to tell her as much, and then.

The last thing I see is a brief glimpse of red, and the last thing I hear is Rose’s yelp. I’m then on my back. Sliding downward, the sound of my spear hitting rock trailing behind me.

After a few seconds that seem to drag on forever, I stop sliding.

I begin to stand up, and realize that I am unable to, There is a pressure on me unrelated to the malevolence in the area, and that pressure is Rose.

It seems she tripped on me, and knocked us into the crucible.

“Alisha!” Rose gets up and shouts at me. “What do you think you were doing?! I told you, these things are teeming with malevolence.”

“I wasn’t going to actually go in! I just wanted to see what was in there.”

“Still! Look where we are now!”

“You tripped on me! I didn’t actually go in myself!”

“This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t have been there!”

I don’t respond to Rose’s last retort. For one, I’ve grown tired of arguing with her. For another, I’m in disbelief at her leap in logic. How is it my fault that we’re here if she’s the one that tripped?

Then again, it’s not like she would purposefully push me in either. I know that much, no matter how much I want to blame this on her.

“Let’s just get out of here before anything happens,” I finally say, standing up myself.

“No good,” Rose says, “You can’t come out until the malevolence has been purified. See?” She walks up to the very top of the stairs, bumping her head on what seems to be nothing. “Ouch… Well, I was gonna just push against it, but I guess that proves my point.”

“Can we call for the others?” I ask. “You said they were very difficult, so we should use all the help we can muster.“

Rose shakes her head. “No good, again. They only let one person in at a time.”

“Then explain why I’m here!”

“Hell if I know! Maybe it’s because we got lucky and came in at the same time! This has never happened before.”

I’m about to ask Rose if we can just call for help anyway, but I realize that Lailah has already noticed us; she is at the top of the stairs, staring at us with concern.

“Are you alright?!” she asks us frantically.

“We’re fine!” Rose says. “Just gonna clean up this mess, then get back to our break.”

I want to argue with her once more, noting how concerned she seemed to be with the difficulty of the task ahead of us. However, I don’t want Lailah to worry, so I just smile instead.

“Yes, we will be fine. Let the others know we’ll be back shortly, all right?” I say.

Lailah seems unconvinced, but nonetheless leaves the top of the crucible.

It seems there is only one thing to do now.

——

When we reach the bottom of the stairs, there is at first nothing. The circular, torch lit room towers over us with steep walls. The massive size and emptiness of the arena leaves me with memories of Elaine Ruins.

And then, I feel a breath down my neck, and hear the sound of cold steel resound against sheaths.

“It’s coming!”

Rose dashes towards the source of the breath, and silences it. Her movements are as swift and precise as usual, despite her previous exhaustion.

As the naga she purified begins to fade away, I find myself both enraptured with the beauty of her fighting style, and consumed with questions as to how a merchant would know how to fight like that.

“Hey, Alisha, are you done gawking?“ Rose notices that I’m staring at her. “There’s more.”

I can hear the sounds of leather wings beating, the sure sign of hellion bats. I swivel around, spear in hand, and cut down the first one I’m able to reach. As I do so, Rose takes down two more with just a few kicks.

‘She’s fast,’ I think to myself as she lands. This time, instead of allowing myself to become immobilized, I resolve to outdo her.

A few goblins on carts have materialized. I charge towards them with all my strength, and spin my spear around. Flames engulf me as I do, and they are what take down all three goblins.

“Whoo!!! Nice work, Alisha! How about THIS?!” Rose leaps up into the air, and flames engulf her as well. She charges downward, slashing right through her targeted goblin in an instant.

‘I took down more at once,’ I think with a smile.

“It’s not about the number of enemies you get, but the style you do it with,” Rose says as if to read my mind and crush my dreams. “See? I even slashed the tires!”

I glower at her. But, I don’t need to say anything. I can feel another naga coming up behind me, so I simply bring my lance up above and behind me without looking. I annihilate the beast - or rather the beast within it - at once.

What am I doing? This is so careless of me. And yet, I’m having such fun fighting like this.

I can tell the feeling is mutual. Rose has already gone on to slay another one of the goblins. Rose throws two flashes of light from her blades in order to knock it off the cart, and then. She picks up the cart and smashes it over the goblin’s head?

Well, it works, but it was still heavily inelegant. I tell her as much, and she just laughs. “I don’t do elegant!” she says.

Even so, she goes back to a traditional kind of “flashy” for her next move: a simple dash forward that is so fast, she seems to turn invisible.

I notice a leech approaching me. I jump into the air, clad in thunder, and bring my spear upon it.

Rose finds her own set of leeches and brings her knifes into the ground below them. They go flying.

I use one hand to swivel my spear through an armed lizard man.

Rose jumps into the air and throws several daggers at once in front of her, each one into a different werewolf.

I balance one of the wolves under my spear, and catapult it behind me into the wall.

This sort of back-and-forth show-offing continues for quite some time. I don’t question where all the enemies are coming from. I know it’s the malevolence corrupting the area. I don’t even question when it will end; I’m having such a joy just competing against Rose.

Eventually, the enemies stop. The adrenaline wears off, and I feel my knees go weak. I suppose all the fighting has finally started to catch up to me.

Rose appears to be in the same condition. I can hear her heavy breathing even from halfway across the expansive room.

“So… how many do you think we each took down?” she asks.

“I thought you said it didn’t matter,” I retort.

“Well it’s fun to see, y’know? It’s not like it counts for nothing.”

“I wasn’t keeping count, honestly.”

“Okay then, so who was the flashiest of all? I’d say it was me.”

“Of course you would say that! Don’t be so self absorbed.”

As I pout, I realize that the malevolence has yet to dissipate. In fact, it seems as though it’s stronger than ever. As if to confirm my fears.

It appears.

I’m not sure what exactly to classify it as. It seems to be both a bird and a dragon at once. But I know that it’s neither. Its blue and yellow wings are studded with spikes at every groove, just as its tail is. And It teems with malevolence.

Rose and I are both frozen by its howls. This monster is on a whole new level in comparison to the hellions we fought previously.

“There’s always a boss at the end of these,” Rose says. “Let’s go!”

Before I can concur, she’s at it, slashing away. Her showoff mode has been rightfully turned off, but she’s still as glamorous as ever.

‘This is no time to admire your comrades’, I think to myself. ‘You must assist them.’

Before I can take a step forward, the hellion slashes forward with its wings. Rose screams as she’s driven into the wall.

“How dare you?!” I find myself yelling as I dash towards this monster. Narrowly avoiding a beam of light from its beak, I slash once with my spear. Then twice. I find myself in the air as I deliver a strike upon its head.

The hellion is far from downed, but it is sedated enough that Rose is able to get a hit in herself. I find myself surprised that she’s already up, but quickly put that aside to deflect another wing strike.

“Are you alright?!” I yell out to Rose as I go in to stab the creature again.

“Of course, dummy! Eyes on the prize!”

What did I expect from her, honestly.

We go back and forth with the hellion for quite some time. It turns out to be quite the stubborn creature. We sustain blows from it, but go on regardless. It receives blows from us, but goes on regardless.

Eventually, Rose and I find each other back to back, heavily breathing. The monster is right next to us, about to strike. Before she moves, she says the following:

“Let’s do what we did last time again.”

I immediately know what she’s talking about. She wants us to both take down the hellion at once, like we did before at Elaine Ruins.

I follow her lead, no prompt needed. She swerves to the side and cuts down the hellion, and I swerve to my own side and cut it down in perfect sync with her.

In a flash of light, the hellion is down.

——

“How in the world did they get hold of a Diphdan Tie?! These are supposed to only be crafted by the royal family.” I look at the tie in my hand in disbelief.

“Dunno,” Rose says as she examines the spear in her own hands. “Hey, I’ve seen this before too. They call it the “Spear of Impending Doom”. Funny name, isn’t it?”

“It’s a little over the top, that’s for sure,” I reply.

“Anyway, we got through this and got some great loot to boot! That’s a crucible for you,” Rose slumps down immediately after speaking.

The movement is so sudden that I can’t help but worry. “Are you okay?! Did that strike from the last hellion wound you seriously?”

Rose laughs. “It’s alright, it’s alright! Just a scratch.”

“Well, that was a heavy blow - and I saw it so you can’t say otherwise. I suggest you rest.”

“I know, I know!” Rose says. “I wanted to take a break before -someone- decided to go challenge the crucible, so now I’m gonna take it for real.”

“No one decided anything!” I pout.

Rose’s response is to laugh once more. “It’s okay, it’s okay! I had a lot of fun.”

“Wha-“ I am taken aback by the sudden change in tone.

“Yeah! I got to show you up, and we defeated a huge hellion with just the two of us! Who can complain in the end?”

“…It’s true,” I say. “I truly do enjoy fighting with you, Rose.”

“Do you, now? Then… Do you want to continue being my squire?”

“Of course!” I exclaim. “You heard me back at the ruins - I don’t have to throw away any part of myself, and that includes me being your squire. Did you think I was going to leave you?”

“Well…” Rose starts. “Well, you have your job as a princess and knight and everything, and you had to leave Sorey before because of that, and… I just assumed you’d be going back to do that.”

“I can’t travel with you all the time,” I say. “However, I’d be glad to assist you whenever I am able to. I’ll be your squire, always.”

“Alisha…” Looks like I made her go soft. “W-well, you can back out whenever you want to, alright? This isn’t a job for the light of heart.”

“I’m not light of heart,” I retort. “And I’m more than glad to give a hand.”

We both laugh, and look at the sky ahead of us. The sun has long risen by now, and a brand new day is ahead of us.


End file.
